Rail-supporting structure



W. P. DAY.

RAILSUPPOBTING STRUCTURE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22. I919.

1,317,779. Patented 06;. 7,1919.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH cu.. WASHINGTON n c TE SATS RAIL-SUPPORTINGSTRUCTURE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented 0 a. 7, 1919.

Application filed January 22, 1919. Serial No. 272,467.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM P. DAY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-SupportingStructures, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in rail supports, andparticularly to that type of rail support embodying spaced membersextending transversely of the rails and rail supporting plates or chairsextending longitudinally beneath the rails and secured to thetransversely extending members.

The general object of this invention is to provide a rail supportingstructure of this type which may be very cheaply made, which will bestrong and rigid and which will be adapted for use either in open orclosed track work. 7

A further object is to provide a structure of this character in whichthe rail supporting plates are formed with upwardly and outwardly"extending flanges, which flanges will abut against the concrete fillingof the road bed, so as to keep the support from shifting or slippingupon the concrete.

A further object in this connection is to provide a construction of thischaracter wherein the concrete will readily flow beneath the platesthereby insuring a uniform bearing under the entire surface of eachplate and whereby the concrete can be tamped in the usual manner and thetamping will force the concrete beneath the upturned side flange of theplate.

A further object is to so form the plates that they may be stamped up atone operation to provide the upwardly and laterally extending flanges,said flanges performing the triple function of strengthening the plate,securing a firm bearing for the plate upon the concrete bed, andpreventing lateral movement of the plates and the supporting structureas a whole.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My improved rail support is illustrated in the accompanying drawings,wherein Figure 1 is a top plan view of a rail support constructed inaccordance with my invention;

Fig, 2 is a side elevation of the rail sup-' port illustrated in Fig. 1;and

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig.

1 but showing the rail support as disposed upon its concrete bed.

Referring to these drawings, it will be seen that my supportingstructure includes a pair of channel irons 10. I prefer to use channelirons for this purpose as thereby the structure is interlocked with theconcrete bed by the lower flanges of the channel irons which would notbe the case were angle irons used. These channel irons 10 are arrangedwith their horizontal flanges extending away from each other, as shownin Fig. 2, and mounted upon these channel irons, at opposite endsthereof, are the rail supporting plates 11 which extend lengthwise ofthe track and are intended to extend each beneath one of the rails A ofthe track. Each plate 11 is of steel and may be from to 1} thick. Eachplate, on each side edge, is formed with the up wardly and laterallyextending flange 12.

To this end the plate is constructedin a peculiar manner, and of apeculiar form. The plate is gradually narrowed from points adjacent itsends to its middle and, as a consequence, the flanges 12 graduallynarrow from the middle toward the ends and these flanges, which are,broadly speaking, slightly crescent shaped, are upwardly bowed and theupper edges of these flanges 12 will curve slightly upwardly andinwardly. These flanges may be formed by stamping or press' the sheetmetal of the plate and the pe culiar character of these flanges is suchas to very greatly strengthen the plate and render it rigid. Theseflanges are disposed along their entire extent at the same angle. Theflanges terminate short of the ends of the platelO to provide atransverse flat terminal portion 13 at each end of the plate, thisterminal portion lying flat upon and being riveted, bolted or otherwiseattached to the upper flanges of the channel irons. The plate is to beprovided with rail engaging devices 14: which may be of any suitablecharacter and form no part of the present invention.

In Fig. 3, I have shown the rail supporting structure above described inposition upon a concrete bed 15. It will be seen that while the uppersurface of the concrete 15 is, generally speaking, level with the plates11, the concrete between the plates and at the ends of the plates andimmediately opposite the flanges 12 is raised to a level with the upperedges of these flanges and curved to correspond with the curvature ofthese flanges so as to form transversely extending abutments againstwhich the flanges bear. It is obvious, of course, that the concretealong the entire bed might be on a leyel, with the upper edges of theflanges but preferably the concrete is rounded'ofl" opposite the flangesso as to conform to the shape of the upper edges of the flanges.

' Hththis construction, the flanges 12 act to reinforce the concrete andthe concrete crete is embanked, as it may be termed,"

- against the longitudinally-extending flanges 12, it isobvious thatthis embankment of the concrete will prevent any lateral shifting oi theroad bed under stress and inasmuch vas the flanges are curvedlongitudinally,

due to the reduction in width in the-middle of each plate 11, it will beobvious, that a longitudinal interlock is secured between the plates andthe concrete which will prevent longitudinal shifting of the trackstructure.

It will be seen that the supporting structure is held to the concrete bythe interlocking engagement between the channel irons 10 and theconcrete. Thus the track structure is held against movement in any direction independent of the road bed. This form of track supportingstructure is particularly designed for street railways, though notnecessarily limited thereto. It

has been tried in practice and under service conditions and has beenfound to possess great strength and rigidity with-the minimum of weight,

In laying a track with a supporting strue ture of the characterdescribed, the rails are engaged with each other by the clamping members14 and then the rails are supported at intervals on jacks or by othermeans and disposed at the proper grade, level, etc., and then theconcrete road bed is tamped beneath the rails and the sup porting plates11 around the transverse .Go'pies of this-patent may be. obtained {orfive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

members 10 in the manner shown in Fig. 3. When theconcrete or likematerial has set, then the jacks are removed and concrete is filled intothe spaces previously occupied by the jacks. Other means than jacks maybe used for supporting the rails and plates '11 while the concrete orother ballast is being tamped beneath and around the track structure,and thus, for instance, blocks maybe disposed at intervals beneath. therails or beneath thecross braces and then concrete poured or tamped inplace, the supto provide oppositely disposed, upwardly and outwardlyextending flanges, the outer edges of the flanges being substantiallyparallel.

2. The combination with a concrete road bed, of a pair of transverselyextending spaced channel irons having. laterally extencb ing flanges,and a pair of rail supporting plates mounted uponsaid angle irons, saidplates being flat and re'stingat their ends on the angle-irons andattached thereto, said plates extending parallel to each other andtransversely to thechannel irons and each plate being graduallycontracted in Width toward its-middle and the contracted portion of eachplate being formed with oppositely disposed upwardly and outwardlyextending flanges, the flanges being longitudinally V curved, said angleirons and plates being embedded-in the concrete bed and theupper face ofthat portion of the concrete bed abutting against said flanges being ona level therewith. V n

In testimony whereof I affix my signature. WILLIAM PATRICK DAY,

Washington, D. C.

